Album Review

Empire – Where The World Begins

• 14th Oct 2013

With their first release in late 2012, South West rockers Empire have swiftly returned to self-release their debut mini-album ‘Where The World Begins’. Safe to say, from the very first track it’s clear that the band are different from a lot of bands that are around right now. Their intricate an unpredictable guitar work creates an ambient alt rock feel which bears a vague resemblance to an early Mars Volta. Their vocalist Joe Green is also unarguably a very talented man – with a powerful and soulful voice teamed with a ridiculously large vocal range; almost as vast as the multitude of genres this band has been influenced by.

‘All The Rage’ provides Coheed and Cambria-esque vocals and riffs with an immense amount of energy; however, it then fuses into a breakdown which could have been written by Nate Ruess. Initially, as a rock band, this is refreshing as its obvious they are breaking away from the mould and attempting to do something relatively new. As the album progresses, this does become a little tiresome as the tracks become increasingly predictable. Apart from the slightly heavier riff-infused ‘My Colour Optimistic’ and their closing track ‘Wish, Wish, Wish’ which is calmer and more alt-rock, all the tracks seem to meld into one.

As a whole, for a band that are taking the risk to merge ambient-alt-rock and soulful-pop-opera-esque-vocals Empire are good at what they do and it is definitely enjoyable if you’re into that sort of thing. Considering this is Empire’s debut album release, it’ll be interesting to see how they stylistically progress in the future and what their full length album will entail. They are on to something, but perhaps they are not quite there yet.

– Mercedes Brown

Venue: Where The World Begins
Support Band: Self Release